Ulster UB staff/ex staff

AlAndalus

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Hi guys
Just wondering if any UB staff/ex staff on here who should have moved/been allowed move back on to a tracker from the staff rate of 3%. Believe AIB moved all their staff back on to their tracker rate (from staff rate). When I rang the UB number they said they can't comment at this point but that I should hear from them over the coming months. Essentially were staff advised that they would not be allowed get their tracker back when they moved to the staff rate (not from my experience).
 
I'm aware of a number of ex staff members who have been returned to their tracker rate. However I'm not sure if they would have fixed at the 3% rate but I do know that ex staff are being returned.
 
Hi guys...im ex staff...ive been put on tracker for the smaller portion of my mortgage and am awaiting redress. However I've been fighting since to get all of my mortgage back on tracker. It was all on tracker in 2005 but I was made permanent in the bank in 2007 and automatically was allowed to avail of staff fixed rate of 4 times my salary. Rates where high at the time so I went ahead. However I can leave the fixed at any time. In 2009 I came off a fixed rate on the smaller part of my mortgage to svr. I should have been allowed go back to tracker but they denied me the option. My point to them was in 2009 I should have been allowed to avail of putting all back on tracker. My 2005 mortgage documentation says that we will track the ecb rate for the lifetime of the mortgage. Ombundsman involved but I have to wait for review to finish :/
 
Hi All, it's the larger portion @ the €190,460 that I am fighting with them about too. I have a TKR on the smaller portion. I also had a TKR associated to the 190K portion also before I switched back to 3% fixed then in Jan'09 they automatically transferred us over to an SVR in January 2009.

They defined the staff rate in the special conditions of the letter of offer as follows:

"In respect of a Staff Mortgage on a Preferential Rate the following conditions apply:"

“While the customer(or if the offer is addressed to more than one person, all of them) remain in the service of the Bank, a staff preferential Fixed Home Loan interest rate of 3% will apply to the Mortgage loan.

The fixed interest rate early breakage cost referred to in Clause 3.3 of the General Terms & Conditions will not apply if for ay reason the interest rate applicable to the Mortgage Loan ceases to the Staff Preferential Fixed Home Loan Interest Rate
”.

Clause 3.2 should have ensued in Jan'09 in my opinion.
 
I got no new mortgage pack after staff rate was applied. I was told that I could choose to come out of staff rate any time I wished when I took redundancy in 2009. Out of interest have you got redress yet? Nice to know there's more of us out there ;)
 
Yeah it's an interesting one, I'm not sure (and haven't been able to get any confirmation from UB) that we are being looked at as part of their review. Essentially I was on a tracker, when the tracker rate went up to nearly 5% I moved to the staff rate of 3% (for the 190k, the remainder stayed on the tracker rate). At the time I was advised that I would revert to the tracker rate if I were to leave UB. Roll on a few years and I did leave but have remained on the 3% rate. So technically I should have been moved off that rate to either the tracker or an SVR but no I've stayed on the staff rate. I'd imagine there are a few in the same boat-unlike some of their other products e.g. UFirst Gold where straight away they applied the monthly fee once you left, for the mortgages nothing happens. Think there might be a gap in their process. As I said from talking to an AIB staff member they advised that AIB have since reinstated their tracker for the full amount as part of their review and I get the sense that this was one of the contentious BoI issues which the new boss has also moved on (but I might be wrong, speculation on my part). Anyway if I don't get a letter in the near future advising that I am being considered as part of the review I will look to escalate. Interesting times.
 
I have put in a complaint/concern since March 17 and put my case forward with the ombundsman. Everything still under review so at a standstill until central bank finish. If you haven't already put in a complaint to highlight your case. The more that do it the better would be my thoughts.
 
Just wondering if any ex staff have received any communication from UB? I've heard nothing, phoned a couple of times and all I've been told is that they will be writing to everyone in due course but couldn't give any other info as in whether or not my account would be included or not. Will just write to them at this stage just to put it on the record and force a reply.
 
Chazza80 my situation is exactly the same as yours, started on tracker, fixed a portion in 2006, rest on staff rate (I didn't get any new t&cs at that time for the staff rate either). The non-staff part has been returned to tracker and I have an open compliant with UB since early 2017 as, like you, I would have moved from staff rate back to tracker in 2009 if it was still available. UB have said that it could be after Christmas before they have any update..
 
I will be interested to see how they reply. UB sent me a final resolution letter saying that there was no obligation to allow me to move back from the 3% to my existing Tracker which is still open for part of the Mortgage. I have submitted a complaint to the Ombudsman but nobody has contacted me yet. I have also asked UB for the document I signed showing that I would not be able to move back to the Tracker. Of course there isn't one.
 
The more of people that get on to them the better. I also submitted a GDPR looking for everything they have in my mortgage files. Particularly the fixed rate sheet at the time I switched to the 3% for part of the Mortgage and the signed document showing I could not switch back. Neither exist.
 
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Joefed can I ask pls when did you receive the final response letter and was the staff portion of your mtg on a tracker initially? I would have thought it would be a straightforward case but looks like it mightn't be after all..
 
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Got the letter at the end of September, had to keep pushing for an answer. Originally all on tracker and some still on tracker now. Waiting for someone to contact me from Ombudsman. Agree seems straightforward and will keep trying.
 
What if the Bank made a mistake and switched the loan to an indefinite fixed rate but the purpose of the loan was excluded from their scheme. This exclusion was missed and the transfer done anyway. Should they be made to put it back to the Tracker and give back the extra interest charged?
 
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Hi all,
Also affected by this and wondering if any of you have gotten any further with things? We were on full tracker from 2006 and moved partially to the staff fixed rate in 2007 with some remaining on tracker. As rates fell we requested to move all back to the tracker rate but were told we couldn't (without a formal application being made if that impacts in any way).
We raised a complaint in 2017 but got nowhere really. Now this week we received a letter saying our mortgage sub account has come under the redress scheme. From the letter this appears to be the smaller part that was on tracker all along. We'll be arguing now that the full mortgage should have been on the tracker but has anyone been successful in getting them to do this?
Any advice welcome
Thanks
 
I haven’t had any progress since, similar situation to you as I have received redress on the smaller non-staff part of my mtg. I called again last week and was told to wait until April as the review isn’t complete yet. Not sure if I should be raising it with Ombudsman now or wait and see.
If your sub account is on tracker that’s strange that it would be impacted though isn’t it?
 
Hi there
I'm ex UB staff and sounds like we are in a very similar boat!
We were advised we were impacted by TME in May 2017. It was also on the smaller part of our mortgage but our entire mortgage originally drew down on tracker...when we moved the large lump to staff never was it implied it was ' a lifetime'product as bank are saying now...we raised a complaint over this and it took almost a year to get a reply saying that it was not upheld.it is now with the ombudsman since November and I have given them copied of everything. It's a great point made 're the u first staff account which was taken off me almost immediately afterr leaving but yet quite happy for me to stay on a staff mortgage rate. We first asked to come off staff rate back in 2013 and no joy but the lifetime reason was not stated then
.. I know of plenty of people in same boat who have left the bank and fought for trackers back and got them so I am not giving up! I've encouraged other ex staff and staff to speak up to get more weight behind the issue! I also know of one case where a staff member was forced off the staff rate as deemed impacted by the examination and circumstances exactly same as ours!
 
Thanks JM that’s v helpful. I don’t have any progress to report- still waiting to get my final response (which is not looking too positive from the stories here) so will have to appeal to the Ombudsman when I get it. Any advice on how to get a final response from UB would be appreciated. I hadn’t heard the line from UB that the staff rate was a lifetime product! Definitely not the case as on my previous mortgage I moved to staff rate and back to tracker again. I can’t imagine that will hold up as an argument as there is nothing to advise of this when moving to staff rate. Best of luck with Ombudsman keep us posted!
 
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